Seeing all red next to your bank's ticker? Here is what that means

(Credit: Peter Dazeley—Getty Images)

If there’s one thing that history has taught us about bank runs, it’s that panic begets panic when one financial institution falls. As anxiety spread through and beyond the Bay Area last week after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, rumors began swirling that the famed tech financial institution would drag others down with it. 

Then Monday kicked off with several banks seeing trading halted in their shares because the stocks were falling so fast. If you have money in a bank that has seen its stock price plummet and trading halted, it is important to know that the announcement of the Federal Reserve's Bank Term Funding Program went a long way toward preventing a bank failure domino-effect. Experts agree that while the stock market is in for a volatile ride, these are not echos of the terrible 2008 Financial Crisis. “Consumers need to separate falling stock prices and volatile trading from their actual deposits in the bank,” explained Mark Neuman, financial advisor and CIO of Constrained Capital. “Their investments in the stocks of these banks could be at risk. Deposits in banks up to $250,000 are not at risk so long as the bank is FDIC protected,” he added.